Module 4

1.8. Rhetorical modes

The narrative mode may also affect the sequencing of rhetorical modes. No matter what kind of fiction one is writing, despite surface differences in style and format, writers all employ certain patterns of organization and demonstrate certain patterns in their thinking. The technical terms for these patterns are “rhetorical modes”, “modes of expression”, “modes of discourse”, “literary representational forms”.

There is no unity of opinion on the number and composition of rhetorical modes, either. The ones recognized by many scholars are presented in the box below.

Rhetorical modes:

• description

• narration

• exposition

• interior speech

• dialogue

• author’s remarks

• represented speech

Description is a rhetorical mode for creating a sensory picture in order either to communicate a sensory image to the reader (objective description) or to cause him to feel whatever the writer feels about what is being described (subjective description). It is important to remember that description, in contrast to narration, is usually static, i.e. not developing in time.

The essential characteristic of narration is sequence, or chronological order. Yet one needs to be alert not only to the sequence of events described – and their connection to one another – but also to the details themselves. Out of the vast number of potential details the writer has chosen these and not others. The initial characteristic of narration, then, is selectivity.

Exposition is the mode for conveying information. According to R. Kernen, "Exposition can be one of the most effective ways of creating and increasing the drama in your story. It can also be the quickest way to kill a plot's momentum and get your story bogged down in detail. Too much exposition, or too much at one time, can seriously derail a story and be frustrating to the reader or viewer eager for a story to either get moving or move on". Exposition in fiction may be delivered through various means. The simplest way is to just place the information between scenes as the all-seeing, all-knowing (but impersonal and invisible) narrator would do. Another means of delivering information is through a character, either as dialogue or through the character's thoughts. When the presentation of information in fiction becomes wordy, it is sometimes referred to as an "information dump," "exposition dump," or "plot dump."

Such rhetorical mode as interior speech of a character has a particular significance in contemporary fiction since it allows the reader to enter the inner world of a character, to observe his thoughts and feelings in the making. Interior speech is best represented in the form of interior monologue, a lengthy piece of text (usually half a page and over) dealing with one major topic of a character's thinking, explicating the motives of his/her actions. Short in-sets of interior speech present immediate mental or emotional reactions of a personage to the verbal or non-verbal behavior of other characters. The stream-of-consciousness technique is extremely popular with the present-day modernist fiction writing.

In dialogue characters speak up their mind. Expressing their opinions and attitudes they characterize themselves indirectly.

Both the uttered (dialogue) and inner (interior speech) forms are introduced into the text by the author's remarks containing indication of the personage (his name or the name-substitute) and of his verbal or mental act.

Another rhetorical mode is a peculiar blend of the viewpoint and language spheres of both the narrator and the character known as represented (free reported) speech. It is close to interior speech; yet it differs from it in its form: it is rendered in the third person singular and may contain the speaker’s characteristic words.